Exit Through The Gift Shop

Just watched this last night and found it totally amazing! I’ve always appreciated the work of Banksy, but his work as a filmmaker is pretty fantastic. The film both celebrates and criticizes the over-commercialization of street art.

It exposes the street artist as a purist – simply creating out of passion and having an obsession for a form of expression that grants no reward. But on the other hand, we also get a look into the commercial art world — full of hipsters eager to shell out thousands for the next big thing. But does this trendy, fashionable following somehow dilute the raw passion of street art, or does it formalize it as a valid form of art? It definitely stirs up a lot of discussion about art in general, mockumentary or not. For me, the speculation that MBW is another Banksy hoax on the art world only makes it more fascinating.